


nindroidgo

by perhapssoon



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: A bit of torture, Cryptor is rather violent, Cryptor wear a rlly suggestive outfit for a while, Mechs, Multi, Technology, crazy nindroids, not really his choice, pixal is great, samurai x stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-06 23:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15206168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: Ninjago spin-off with Zane, Echo Zane, Pixal, and Cryptor as the main characters.





	1. lockdown

**Author's Note:**

> I might expand this but it’s definitely going to be darker than the general rating of Ninjago and doesn’t make sense at all because I’m a bad writer.  I’m still working out the kinks of this AU but basically this kinda is set after season 8-ish but with other stuff changed. I’ll figure it out.

Pixal’s database has literally every word in existence, but the only one she has right now to describe this is ‘stupid.’

And it is, in a way. LockD0wn, some guy who decided that making destroyer mechs was a good idea, has overrun New Ninjago City. Pixal is 93.73 percent sure that he just wants attention, considering the mechs, according to her scans, are surprisingly susceptible to viruses and anyone who knows how to work a computer properly.  But since this is New Ninjago City, the people are giving LockD0wn exactly what he wants: attention.

_“My scanners are picking up a highly pressurized energy core,”_ Zane, Pixal’s technical boyfriend, comments from his position above her. “So any physical attack would make it explode outright.”

Zane sometimes seems to forget that all four of his team are nindroids and most of them are equipped with the same tech he is. But with Pixal being programmed the way she is, she decides not to mention it. But Cryptor, on the other hand, doesn’t think that way.

_“Father made pretty much all of us the same way, Zane. We have the same shit you do.”_

As all of the nindroids have access to swear words, Cryptor is the only one out of the four of them who actually utilizes them, but not necessarily in the right way. He also uses the crudest language Pixal has ever known for a nindroid to use, but she, along with Cryptor’s brothers, have gotten used to it.

_“Father also instructed us not to curse,”_ Zane retorts, and judging from the quality of his voice coming in through the radio, Pixal would say he’s slightly aggravated, as he usually is whenever Cryptor talks to him.

The two being nearly direct copies of each other is something that throws Pixal off quite a bit, despite her being a technical nindroid herself. Cryptor, admittedly, is the more brooding and negatively emotioned of the pair, while Zane is calmer and not as impulsive. And Echo is also technically related, leaving Pixal to be the odd one out.

_“We have a small issue,”_ Echo reports from his position farther down the street. His voice is crackling in Pixal’s ear, and she’s sure it’s not just the distance that’s making it so. Echo falls apart a lot and while he usually stays with at least one other nindroid just in case, he had begged them to let him go on alone for ‘scouting purposes.’ _“LockD0wn is heading for Borg Tower. He wants to access the security records.”_

_“Why would he want to do that?”_ Zane wonders aloud, scuffling sounds indicating him moving to a better vantage point. _“He has already received enough attention as it is. It’s only a matter of time before—“_

_“Screw this,”_ Cryptor butts in. _“Alert Borg Tower, I’m going after him.”_

_“Cryptor, you can’t, the mechs detonate after physical—“_ Pixal starts to say before their radio connection is cut off and she’s left staring at the lines of mechs down below. She wants to swear, but she’s pretty sure Zane won’t approve.

_“I’ll follow him and try to talk to him,”_ Zane says after a moment, and Pixal can see a blur of black on the rooftops as Cryptor rushes past, followed shortly by a white blur.

_“Be careful,”_ she says, before wrenching the window open. There’s no safe way to get down to street level as far as she can detect so much from this high up. _“Echo, is there any way down?”_

_“I can’t tell,”_ Echo responds, voice scratchy. _“My scanners won’t work.”_

After they realized that Echo only worked after winding up, Cryptor and Zane had smuggled out some tech from Borg Industries to try to get Echo as updated as the rest of them. While they did enable him to have an energy core, his scanners were a bit faulty as they weren’t compatible with his older design.

_“Ok,”_ Pixal says tolerantly. Echo is trying and she’s willing to be patient. _“Where are you?”_ All the wireless connections coming from the mechs are messing with her systems as well. Zane didn’t seem to have a problem, and Cryptor was never truly honest with them, so Pixal understood it had to do with their manufacturing.

_“Top of Chen’s Noodle House,”_ Echo replies, and Pixal goes further into the room she’s in and finds a staircase to the roof.

_“I’m on my way.”_

—

“Cryptor!” Zane shouts over the rumble of the mechs below him as he struggles to keep up with his brother.

The next words he says is swallowed up by the noise, even to him, so he knows there’s no way Cryptor can hear him, even through the comms, which he had unsurprisingly turned off.

He should know better than to argue with Cryptor. Cryptor had been programmed to have an unusually extreme amount of emotional capability, and while he used it to his advantage, it was less endearing to those around him. Which also meant he actively ignored Zane whenever he could, even when the four nindroids were ranked by age.

Echo, being the oldest model, was first, followed by Zane then Pixal and finally Cryptor. Although the moody nindroid was based off of Echo and Zane’s designs, he was created most recently, technically making him the youngest.

That doesn’t stop him from disobeying the others’ orders.

Zane catches up to Cryptor about a block away from Borg Tower where the front lines of LockD0wn’s mechs were advancing. “Cryptor, you can’t stop him on your own!” Zane tries, and Cryptor conveniently ignores him.

He’s readying himself to jump, Zane can tell from his body language. The twin katanas strapped to his back are now in his hands and suddenly Cryptor is dropping down to the lead mech below.

“Cryptor!”

Zane has no hope of stopping him, and even as he scales the building to follow him, he radios Pixal and Echo. _“Cryptor is attacking LockD0wn, if I had some backup, that would be sufficient.”_

_“Echo and I are on the roof of Chen’s Noodle House,”_ Pixal says. “ _The mechs seem to be messing with my systems and Echo is malfunctioning again. I’ll summon the Samurai X suit. But remember, do not initiate physical contact with any of the mechs.”_

The Samurai X suit was a gift from Nya, one of Zane’s friends. She insisted that Pixal keep it, saying that all girls need to know to defend themselves, for better or for worse and with Pixal being Pixal, she didn’t argue. It came with quite a bit of tech, with was not as advanced as the nindroids themselves, but close to it for a technologically advanced suit anyway.

An explosion rips through the city and Zane doesn’t even have to look to see Cryptor standing over a fallen mech, barely shielding himself from the second explosion that occurred from an adjacent mech. _“It’s too late, Cryptor has initiated his attack already.”_

Pixal lets out a beeping sound — the closest she’ll get to swearing — and sighs. _“I’m on my way. It will take a while so you should get the civilians out of danger.”_

_“Already on it.”_ Zane lands on the sidewalks and ushers away a family who has been watching the trail of mechs in horrified silence. “Come with me!” he yells over the noise as the explosions get closer. “We need to get you to safety!”

The family does as asked and Zane managed to herd them — and a bunch of other passerby who were too shocked by the turn of events to do anything — out to a side streets and instructs them to go to the sewers. The Serpentine didn’t say whether they preferred anyone to tell them beforehand if anyone would be seeking shelter from them but now is too late to ask.

“Follow the sewage lines and find the Serpentine,” Zane orders. “They will help.”

The citizens disappear underground and Zane turns back to the mechs. About a third of them are destroyed now, though the large one in front, most likely LockD0wn’s personal one, is almost to Borg Tower.

Cryptor is nowhere to be seen.

The Samurai X suit suddenly touches down in front of him and he has to scramble away from it to avoid being crushed. The cockpit opens and Pixal and Echo are revealed to be inside, despite the limited space.

“Where’s Cryptor?” Pixal asks, eyes wide.

Zane turns to look and he sees it. LockD0wn apparently has decided to risk coming out of his mech to avoid being blown up and is locked in fierce combat with Cryptor, who is holding his own, despite an arm he seems to have lost in previous explosions and his katanas lying on the ground several feet away.

“Over there.” He’s already running, and he can hear the distance clanks as Pixal urges the Samurai X mech to follow him.

LockD0wn has a vice grip on his brother’s remaining arm, and would have torn it straight of its socket if Zane didn’t land a blast of ice that basically renders his his entire lower body immobile.

Nindroids don’t feel a need to breathe, but Cryptor looks slightly winded. Zane, thinking better than to chastise his younger brother, silently hands him his katanas, which Cryptor takes back just as quietly. The silence is ruined by Pixal clomping up to them, the Samurai X mech whirring faintly with every step.

“Are you two alright?” she asks, her eyes glowing a bit more than usual.

“We’re fine,” Zane speaks for the both of them. Cryptor doesn’t look like he wants to talk any time soon.

“Well, my scanners are working again, and I am detecting a large amount of energy coming from LockD0wn’s mech,” Pixal reports, gesturing to the object in question, her own mech copying her movements.

Zane scans the mech himself and sees that she is right. As usual. “It also has a secure lock that is coded to self-destruct if the incorrect steps are initiated,” he notes and Pixal hops down from the mech, leaving Echo to the controls.

“Send the signal alarm to Borg Tower. Operation Lockdown,” Zane tells Echo, all too aware of the disturbing alikeness in the operation name and LockD0wn himself.

Echo nods and while he’s busy at the controls, Pixal and Zane investigate the mech, leaving a wide berth around LockD0wn as they do so.

“You know you won’t be able to stop me,” LockD0wn says smugly, despite his position being frozen to the floor.

“What are your plans?” Pixal counters, as Zane approaches the mech. “What do you seek to gain?”

“Attention,” LockD0wn says with a more obvious tone. “I already told you.”

“Yeah, no,” Cryptor says, apparently deciding to take the interrogation into his own hands.  Pixal makes the decision to leave him to it because Cryptor, despite whatever anyone likes to say, is the best out of the four of them in getting information, even if it means torture. Echo was too nice, Zane too relenting, and Pixal the opposite of aggressive when it came to prisoners.

The mech, meanwhile, seems normal enough, but the two nindroids investigating don’t dare to touch it. Zane figures there is some kind of trigger that sets off the alarm system, but he can't tell what it is yet. The energy core is still pressurized, which he thinks is a mistake in LockD0wn's part, considering what had happened to the mech army. "There's no way in from here. The defenses are still up. As I predicted. What about you?"

Pixal only shakes her head, but Cryptor calls over to them. "Hey! The password's his name!"

Zane knows, without even looking over, what Cryptor has done to LockD0wn. His fellow nindroid has a gut-wrenching way of following through with revenge. He chooses to ignore this fact -- and LockD0wn's screams of pain -- and calls back, "Is there any catch in spelling it?"

There's a pause, another earsplitting scream, and then Cryptor replies, "Capital 'L', o, c, k, capital 'D', zero, w, n."

Zane searches the front of the mech for a keypad, which he quickly finds, and punches in the letters and number.  The mech whirrs in recognition and the cockpit opens. At first glance, it seems normal but Zane can see the layers of paper plastered over the seat, all of them maps and all of them targeting specific cities.  The largest map is one of New Ninjago City.

He turns to LockD0wn, trying to not look at the missing arm and the endless blood.  "What does all this mean?"

LockD0wn stares at him defiantly and Zane has to admit that the man has either a large amount of stubborness or courage.  Cryptor slides the blades of his katanas together and the slithering clash of metal makes LockD0wn jump in surprise. When he meets the nindroid's glare, he balks.  "I-I was sent by my boss to capture all the main cities in Ninjago."

"But New Ninjago City _is_ the main city," Pixal says, coming around the side of the mech to stare at LockD0wn curiously, also tactically stepping over the pool to blood to stand at Zane's side. "Do you mean _all_ of the cities in Ninjago?"

"Yes, yes, yes," LockD0wn says hurriedly, with another glance at Cryptor who now looks like he wants to slice the man in half. "All the cities."

"Who is your boss?" Cryptor says, and LockD0wn freezes, fear masking his features.

"I d-don't know," he says weakly. "He never told me his name.  I just get orders over a phone and follow through with it."

Cryptor narrows his eye — the one that doesn’t shoot laser beams — and LockD0wn quickly adds, “But I can show you the phone he always call me on!”

Zane glances over at Pixal, who nods and he takes a step forward. LockD0wn flinches but when nothing happens, he carefully raises his head. “Where is the phone?”

LockD0wn hesitates, like he’s regretting telling Zane. Cryptor starts forward but Zane holds out a hand to keep him back. “Where is the phone?” he asks again. 

“H-here.” LockD0wn shakily reaches into his coat pocket with his good arm and hands Zane a small cell phone. It isn’t anything Cyrus Borg has made, so Zane assumes LockD0wn must’ve gotten it from somewhere else. He flips the phone open and studies it. It looks like a normal phone. 

“Do you know the number he calls you on?” 

LockD0wn shakes his head. “It’s always an unknown phone number. I swear I don’t know anything about him!”

“Then what’s the real reason why you came to Borg Tower?” Pixal asks. “It can’t just be for security records.”

“My boss asked me to steal all the security records. I have no idea why. I think it might be to keep me off his trail but I have no idea.”

LockD0wn is dying. All the nindroids can sense it. Due to blood loss, the former (technically) villain now is a pasty gray color. LockD0n seems to sense it as well and his voice wavers slightly. “I’m dying, aren’t I?”

Pixal nods silently and LockD0wn turns to Zane, evidently identifying him as the leader. “Can your violent friend here kill me before I say too much?”

Cryptor’s grip tightens on the katanas and Zane can hear them crack slightly under the pressure. “No,” Cryptor says. “You’re going to tell us everything and then we’ll kill you out of mercy.”

“That’s all I know anyway,” LockD0wn says decidingly and Cryptor stares at him, trying to judge if the man is lying or not.

“He’s close to death,” Pixal says. “It would be best to put him out of his misery.”

Cryptor grunts in disapproval but draws his katana anyway. 

Zane looks away but he can still hear a squelching noise and a thud. He looks back in time to see Cryptor withdrawing the katana and sliding it into the sheath on his back. “Well, we got some phone tracking to do,” he says nonchalantly as if he had never killed the man in the first place. 

Pixal give Zane a look and follows Cryptor back through the side streets, Echo clomping behind them in the Samurai X mech. Zane glances at the remaining mechs; there aren’t many left and the last few are just exploding when he escapes down the alleyway with his fellow nindroids, leaving behind a mess of metal, wire, and a dead body with blood still pooling around it.

The headlines run the story for weeks afterward.  Four mysterious android figures.  One murder.  And a rumored plot to end Ninjago as they know it.


	2. disguise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four track the main boss to a bar. The only problem is getting in without being recognized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for groping a bit and some perverted stuff I think. And there’s always the language.

The phone tracking is the easy part.  The harder part is figuring out if the whole thing is a ruse or not.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the phone number," Pixal says, studying the phone.  "And there are no detectable viruses as far as I can sense."

"It could be a really elaborate trap," Cryptor says from the other side of the room where he's idly flicking a pen cap across a table taped together with duct tape.  "Or LockD0wn could be lying about the whole thing. He’s an asshole so it would make sense he would lead us straight into a trap."

It _is_ suspicious.  Whoever LockD0wn's boss is, they obviously didn't bother to cover up their tracks in the case of the phone.  Maybe because they were naive, or they thought LockD0wn wouldn't be caught, but Zane had a feeling that if they don't want to tell LockD0wn their exact plans, they wouldn't be caught by phone number.

"This doesn't seem right," he agrees, surprising everyone in the room by siding with Cryptor. "Someone who doesn't even tell their henchmen why they are sending them to run their errands is someone who shouldn't be that easy to find."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Pixal asks. "We can't just break into wherever the phone number leads.  We need a strategy."

Seeing Cryptor opening his mouth to speak, she quickly adds, "And no, breaking in is _not_ a strategy."

Cryptor closes his mouth, looking disgruntled.

"What if we go there anyway?" Echo asks, tilting his head in confusion.  "This is probably the best lead we have. We have nothing else to go by. If we just find the coordinates..."

Slowly, Pixal starts to smile.  "I see where you're going, Echo."  She turns to one of the massive monitors sitting in front of her and starts tapping away at the keyboard.  After a long moment, she turns back around and says to the room at large. "LockD0wn's boss seems to be at these coordinates.  I'm transferring them to all of you."

There's a pause and then Zane's vision is suddenly filled with a large holographic map showing New Ninjago City. It zooms out and travels to the city of Stiix.

"Again?" he says, slightly annoyed.

Cryptor looks confused.  "What's Stiix?"

"A city built entirely on water," Zane says.  "That's where we found Ronin."

Cryptor looks incredulous now.  All four of them have met Ronin, all under different circumstances. Cryptor's impression of the mercenary was a bit different since the other three had seen Ronin under rather tense circumstances.  Cryptor, on the other hand, had met Ronin when the latter was sneaking half a ton of wood and Jay's favorite pair of socks out of the washing machine, along with a rather large bottle of whiskey. Zane hadn't personally seen Ronin in that state, but he is sure he wouldn't want it to be his first impression of him.

Pixal stands.  "This call was made only a few hours before LockD0wn's initial attack.  We might as well get moving now before they change positions."

"Got it." Zane stands and the others follow to grab their weapons and other necessities. 

As he gathers his extra shurikens, he can hear Cryptor mutter, “Oh, this is going to be _fun_.”

—

The location turns out to be a really old hotel on the edge of Stiix's docks.

Echo still isn't ready to go on any stealth missions, as the four of them ran out of tuning oil a long time ago, so he stays behind to watch the door. Zane, per popular vote, is the first into the building, followed by Pixal and Cryptor scales the side of the hotel to enter through the roof.

The lobby is empty, except for the receptionist, who is an android.  "Hello." she says eyes fixed straight ahead and voice flat. "How may I help you today."

Pixal exchanges a glance with Zane; she looks uncomfortable. Zane feels like leaving but the threat of LockD0wn's boss is what pushes him forward. "We don't need any help today, ma'am. We just need permission to search this place."

"Ah." the android nods slowly, a rather detached smile spreading across her face.  "Well, you have my permission to do so. Just be aware of your friend, who still seems to be on the roof.  We do not want to make any unnecessary calls to the hospital if you do not mind."

Zane blinks in astonishment.  "How did you--"

"Yes, thank you," Pixal says quickly, grabbing Zane by the arm and moving across the hall into the elevator.  "We will make sure no one gets harmed."

The door closed with a ding and they made their ascent, Pixal studying her scanners the whole ride. "Something isn't right here," Zane says.  "There were no guests in the lobby."

"From my records, there are only three people in this hotel, aside from staff," Pixal replied, eyes darting to the ceiling of the elevator briefly.  "One on the third floor, one on the sixth, and one on the top floor, floor nine. The location of the boss is currently higher than the fourth floor, narrowing it down to two.  Assuming Cryptor doesn't provoke the person on the top floor--"

As if on cue, there's a loud beeping noise and Cryptor’s voice crackles through their ears. 

_“There’s no one on the top floor.”_

_“What?”_ Pixal looks confused. _“But my scanners clearly say—”_

_“There isn’t anyone here!”_ There’s a sound of something shattering and both nindroids in the elevator wince. 

There’s a pause and a sudden curse word flies across their radio line. _“Shit, scratch that. He just jumped out the window. Do I go after him?”_

Zane didn’t even have time to wonder why Cryptor was asking them for permission before saying, _“Go ahead.”_

There’s a wave of static before the comm link shuts off. 

_“Echo,”_ Pixal starts, _“you there?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Follow Cryptor. You have his location, right? He may need backup.”_

_“Okay.”_

The elevator dings, signaling their arrival at the top floor. Zane is the first one out. At first glance, the hallways seem untouched, but Pixal can see a gaping hole at the end of the hall’s ceiling, showing where Cryptor came in. Assuming that the room he found was close to his entry, she hurries over to the hole and is proven correct when she sees an open hotel room door to her right. 

The room is spacious and mostly immaculate, something that is impressive, considering the center of the window is missing, with shards of glass scattered across the floor. 

The hotel is right at the edge of the dock, giving a clear view of the murky green water surrounding the city. Zane thinks for a moment before launching himself out the window, landing on the docks with a light thud. 

“I’m going to find Echo and Cryptor,” he says to Pixal, who’s staring at him from the open window. 

Pixal nods and gives him a smile as he darts away. 

He catches up to his brothers in an alleyway next to a bar. “What are you two doing?”

“Waiting for you!” Cryptor hisses. “We’re keeping watch on the doors, roof, and windows. He went inside the bar.”

“Did he see you at all?” Zane asks, and the darker nindroid shakes his head.

“He broke out of the room right when I opened the door. So he was already gone by the time I came in.”

“Did you see him?” Zane asks Echo, who surprisingly nods. 

“Red cloak, brown hair, white clothes,” Echo rattles off. “He saw me, I’m pretty sure, and by the looks of it, he recognized me so he’s going to recognize you as well.”

There’s the sound of footsteps and Pixal appears in the alleyway. “Is he in the bar?”

All three nod. 

“Echo and I can’t go in because he saw Echo,” Zane whispers. “And you know we look more alike than Cryptor and I do.”

The last comment provokes a half-hearted glare from Cryptor, but Pixal grips his shoulder to remind him to stay quiet. 

“So what do we do? Surely he knows that all of us are affiliated with each other and so will recognize us either way.”

“We can’t chance that,” Zane says. “Unless we were in disguise.”

“No fake mustaches are going to cut it this time,” Cryptor says bluntly. “You’re going to have to cloak yourself.”

“Pixal, do you have a cloaking device?”  Zane asks, but the female nindroid shakes her head. 

“I do believe Cryptor is our best chance in catching LockD0wn’s boss,” Pixal says. 

“Assuming he even _is_ his boss,” Cryptor grumbles, evidently irritated at being the one to go in. 

“You’ll be fine,” Pixal reassures him. “We just need to figure out what your cover is—”

“I got it,” Cryptor sighs and there’s a small buzzing noise before changing appearances into someone the other nindroids definitely didn’t expect. 

“Was it your plan to turn into a woman?” Echo asks, tilting his head slightly.

Cryptor shrugs, form flickering slightly as he does so. “Best chance of blending in. Plus the stereotypical male mind works in rather perverted ways so I can play that out.” 

Pixal nods slowly, a bit impressed. “Well, guess you’re our best shot at this.”

Cryptor grimaces. “Hopefully this’ll work out. I feel like I’m going to regret this.”

—

The bar is so crowded, Cryptor gets shoved around about five times before he actually makes it to the bartender.  Shoved, as in groped. 

Forcing himself to stay in character and not kill anyone, Cryptor fumbles his way to the counter and retunes his comms link. 

“This is so stupid,” he grumbles. “I guess it’d be a good thing that you didn’t come in here, Pixal.”

_“You didn’t kill anyone yet, correct?”_ Pixal asks worriedly. _“I do suppose that the people here are a bit rough but you can’t blow your cover yet.”_

“Yeah, I know,” Cryptor replies with a groan. “You have connection?”

_“Just a moment.”_ There’s a pause and then Pixal says. _“Got it — oh my, that’s a lot of people.”_

“Tell me about it.”

“Tell you about what, sweetheart?” 

Cryptor looks up slightly to see a man standing in front of him: red cloak, white shirt and pants, and tousled brown hair. _“Echo, is this him?”_ he asks, careful to keep the conversation in his mind. 

_“Yes.”_

_“Well shit.”_

_—_

Pixal has to admit it. Cryptor is a good actor. Watching through the various security cameras behind the bar and Cryptor’s connection link, she can see him rise and place a hand on their target’s shoulder, keeping the seductive female cover rather high. 

“Awkward levels are increasing,” Echo says, half of an amused smile crossing his rusted features and Pixal snorts. 

“That is an understatement,” Zane says, eyes glued to the screen. “Cryptor seems to be handling it like an actual conversation. Which means social skills are at a bare minimum.”

“But it seems like he can keep in character despite that,” Pixal replies, watching Cryptor do some things she never wants to see him do again. “This is rather disturbing.”

“He’s literally giving LockD0wn’s boss, what does Jay call it, a lap dance?” Zane looks perturbed. “I don’t think I should be watching this.”

“We have to if we need an opening,” Pixal replies. “Cryptor won’t be able to keep the cover up for long. He’s rather temperamental, especially when he’s being touched like that.”

Zane winces. “I’ve never hoped for his temper to show before now but I feel like I’m counting on it at this point.”

_“Oh, you want me to speed things up?”_ Cryptor’s mental voice sounds like it’s taking a lot to hold in his anger. _“The hologram disguise is going to fail soon anyway with all the physical contact.”_

“Just don’t kill him,” Pixal warns. “We need him alive.”

Cryptor grunts in reply. _“Fine. Whatever.”_

Pixal sees Cryptor, still disguised, suddenly stand and draw one of his katanas out of nowhere. LockD0wn’s boss nearly trips over his chair in his haste. 

“What the hell, woman!”

“I’m not a woman,” Cryptor snarls and his disguise flickers again before dissipating completely. “And you will listen to me unless you want to die, you pervert.”

LockD0wn’s boss nods, though his expression is a bit too calm for his current state. Pixal would think it’s suspicious but she’s too concentrated on trying to find an opening. 

“Bring him outside,” she tells him, but the order is a mistake. 

When Cryptor steps forward, the boss takes something out of his pocket and throws it at the nindroid. The object catches him in the chest and electrocutes him, making Cryptor drop to one knee, wincing in pain. While the nindroid is occupied, the boss runs out the back door of the bar, pursued by Zane. Cryptor shakes off the effects of the shock rather quickly but as he goes after Zane and the boss, Pixal can see that he running rather crookedly. 

She wonders, for the first time since encountering LockD0wn, if going to all this trouble is really worth it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Original idea by @sayijo on tumblr


End file.
